Budget Forecast Gets Gloomier
by Christine Stuart | November 12, 2008 10:30 PM
Posted to State Capitol
Gov. M. Jodi Rell painted a grim picture of Connecticut’s economy Wednesday afternoon at a press conference.
“Income tax, sales tax and casino revenues are all down significantly. I am not talking about slower growth, but about zero growth - and actual diminished revenues,” Rell said speaking in terms of the state budget forecast.
She said her budget office has adjusted its deficit projections to $2.6 billion in 2010 and $3.3 billion in 2011. The General Assembly is expected to convene a special session on Nov. 24 to deal with the $302 million budget deficit the state is currently running in fiscal year 2009. Rell has already made all the cuts she can without legislative approval to the 2009 budget.
“In terms of absolute dollars, the state will have less revenue in both 2010 and 2011 than in 2009. That means we are going to have to cut spending. These will be difficult cuts, cuts that will hurt people and programs, but they must be made,” she said.
When asked by reporters if she will be asking labor unions for concessions or announcing an early retirement plan for state employees next year, Rell simply answered by saying “everything is on the table.”
“We are looking for significant cuts in state spending. I am looking to close this budget deficit with budget cuts,” Rell said, when asked if the state can close the budget gap without tax increases. “Raising taxes in this economy is the worst thing that we can do at any level,” she said when asked hypothetically if she would veto a legislative budget proposal that included a progressive income tax.
“This is going to be a very, very lean biennial budget,” Rell said.
“Connecticut faces a budget crisis, just like many families across the state, and we must work together to solve it,” Senate President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said in an emailed statement Wednesday.
“No party or person has a monopoly on good ideas,” he said. “Gov. Rell asked for the help of Democrats in the legislature today - and she’s got it.”
Click here to read the 103-page Office of Policy and Management state budget report.
Comments (5)
Posted by: ctkeith | November 12, 2008 10:22 PM
3.3 Billion,Isn't that almost the same number in "TAX CARVEOUTS" the state gives away annually to special interests that our wonderful "Press" forgets to push for answers on every time the budget process gets going.
Posted by: Mark Jones | November 13, 2008 7:35 AM
How about taking a progressive step and decriminalizing marijuana (as our sister state Massachusetts has done), which would reduce costs for prisons, prosecutors, police, and interdiction.
Posted by: cedarhillresident | November 13, 2008 8:21 AM
Mark Jones
I just wanted medical for the conically ill. But when you look at the savings and the revenue that fines will bring in. I think it is time to decriminalize. Reality Rell most of your staff have smoked at one point or another in their lives.
Posted by: Skip | November 13, 2008 8:37 AM
This sounds familiar, down in Milford Frank the Independent running for office said the state was 1 Billion in debt. My wife called it B.S. that he was fearmongering to get votes. This article was repeated in the post today and was 3 times more than what Frank predicted. Perhaps he was more optimistic than we expected.
His next prediction is massive tax increases and wage hikes for state union employees who could care less about anything but them selves, the elected a Democratic supermajority to guarantee their wage increases while the rest of us in this state languish. I wish I was a Janitor at the Capitol, even State Reps got whopping 6.8% raise this year.
With the Liberals in charge CT ought to be bankrupt and begging for money by 2012.
Posted by: Doriss Day | November 13, 2008 9:34 AM
Please do not put Mass. in the same category as CT. We are not your sister state. You are the Unconstitution State, a state in denial. We are the birthplace of the republic. You have the fifth highest incarceration rate in the country, and 20% higher than Mass. You wage a relentless cultural war against minorities and young men, judging by your incarceration statistics. We have a criminal justice system that is completely transparent and largely fair. Yours is Byzantine, rigged and conducted behind closed doors, as you cynically give lip-service to Constitutionally-guaranteed "rights." You care not for Constituionally-guaranteed freedoms and rights. Your Prison-Industrial Complex is the only "growth industry" in your declining economy.
Your law enforcement apparatus is designed as a revenue-generator and guarantor of full-employment for thousands of employees of your "police state" at many levels.
What's $3.3 B amongst friends anyway? (You can't take it with you.) Suck it up, CT. Maybe if you release some your of your "overcharged" and falsely incarcerated prisoners early, you could save some $'s. Just a thought!?! Maybe, just maybe, if you did not have so many "laws" on the books, you would not have to arrest and incarcerate as many people as you do.
Then maybe your state might become more attractive to businesses and entrepreneurial individuals. Have a nice day.